


And All Became Red

by bandana_pirate



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: Monologue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-10
Updated: 2016-04-10
Packaged: 2018-06-01 12:15:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6518914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bandana_pirate/pseuds/bandana_pirate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It all began and ended the same way - with Red.</p>
            </blockquote>





	And All Became Red

**Author's Note:**

> This is a monologue from the Courier's point of view, detailing events before and during the events of New Vegas.

**Red** is the colour of life. It's blood, passion, rage. Beginnings and violent end. **Red** is the colour of love. Beating hearts and hungry lips. **Red** is the colour of shame. Crimson cheeks and spilled blood. **Red** is the colour that I adopted as my name when all else had been lost. When I had nothing else in my possession but a dusty old coat and some worn boots. I became **red**. I became the personification of all that is violent and hungry. And with naught but the clothes on my back and the supplies in my bag, I journeyed on, away from my past.

**Green** is the colour of nature. It’s renewal, growth, harmony. Towering trees and blooming flowers. **Green** is the colour of greed. Jealousy and money laundering. **Green** is the colour of order. Military jackets and flags flying. **Green** was what I saw when I journeyed to the west. Past the vibrant **green** trees lay a wasteland with a different kind of **green** to be found. **Green** was what I became when I found the men in fancy armour and suits who offered me a place with them. And with no other choice, I stayed.

**Blue** is the colour of freedom. It’s depth, sincerity, expansiveness. Open roads and clear skies. **Blue** is the colour of wisdom. Knowing what to do and doing it. **Blue** is the colour of loyalty. Trusting in others and being rewarded for it. **Blue** is how I lived as I continued to wander as before, only with another’s symbol on my back instead of being unbranded as I was before. Paths before me continued to open as I went on, allowing me to go places I had never seen. Once, I had been this free to follow my own path as I desired. What I sought out there brought me to these new places, and I continued along.

**Yellow** is the colour of hope. It’s positivity, clarity, optimism. Endless possibilities and new paths. **Yellow** is the colour of remembrance. What might have been and what was. **Yellow** is the colour of honour. Pacts made and not forgotten. **Yellow** is what I tried to hold on to when everything descended into chaos because of my ignorance. How I was only doing what I was told. My blind trust led to the deaths of those I had found. And with this on my conscience, I left that place and tried to forget what I had let happen.

**Purple** is the colour of pride. It’s ambition, power, luxury. Corruption rife and people suffering. **Purple** is the colour of independence. Striking out and becoming alone. **Purple** is the colour of extravagance. Pursuing your wants and leaving others behind. **Purple** is what I discovered in myself when I found this place. Too long had I been placing myself above others. Too long had I paid little heed to the consequences of my actions and what they were doing to the little people. Burying my pride, I took off my jacket, the one that had for so long been a symbol of my power. With the symbol retired, I returned to my beginnings.

**Black** is the colour of grief. It’s fear, death, strength. Crying widows and fatherless children. **Black** is the colour of mystery. Hushed words and sideways glances. **Black** is the colour of aggression. Bloodied fists and angered words. **Black** is what I saw when they buried me in a shallow grave. When they stole what I had and left me for dead. My heart was **black** after I was dug up and the bullets fished out of my skull. My soul was filled with a desire for revenge, a chance to brutally kill the man who had done this to me, who had robbed me of so much. And with this disgusting, **black** feeling building inside of me, I set off in search of my ending.

**Red** is the colour of fire. It’s anger, wrath, determination. War filled and hateful. **Red** is the colour of malice. Inhuman and monstrous. **Red** is the colour of survival. Kill or be killed. **Red** was what I had become when it ended. When everything was done and my foes were vanquished, I was **Red. Red** with their blood, filled with the flames of war I had helped to ignite. I looked out on this sea of **Red** and felt calmed by the sight. The world was **Red** and so was I. But even though I had accomplished more than I had hoped when I had set out in a bloody haze, I felt empty. I had nothing left to do. There was no more work for me, no more civilizations that I could so ignorantly condemn, no one else I could diligently track to the ends of the earth only to slaughter them while they lay bound. I had bathed everything in **Red** and, in doing so, lost everything. And so, with nothing left but my dusty old coat and some worn boots, I set out on for the last time.

**Author's Note:**

> In case it wasn't clear:
> 
> Red - they left their old life behind and took the name of Red.  
> Green - the Courier (who I assume to be from one of the tribes/towns in the Four States Commonwealth) joins the NCR as a courier.  
> Blue - just general musings from the Courier, along with explanation for the NCR symbol being on the jacket in the Lonesome Road DLC.  
> Yellow - the Divide goes boom.  
> Purple - they see too much greed and stuff on their travels and ditch their NCR work to become just a normal courier.  
> Black - New Vegas starts and they go off to find Benny.  
> Red, again - a very ambiguous ending (personally I side with the NCR or free New Vegas, but I left it ambiguous), where their revenge is sated and they leave, maybe dying, maybe not.


End file.
